


He's a Poser

by SamCyberCat



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-29
Updated: 2017-06-29
Packaged: 2018-11-21 03:50:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11349273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamCyberCat/pseuds/SamCyberCat
Summary: Makoto regrets agreeing to be a life drawing model for the day quite quickly, but at least the rewards for it are pretty good.





	He's a Poser

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the HappyBDayHaru2017 event on the MakoHaru Alley twitter. Set sometime during season one.

“Mako-chan, your arm's slipping!”

“Sorry...!”

Makoto hoisted his arm back up into place, sure that he'd lose all feeling in it if he had to keep it up there much longer. He'd also gotten what his dad would describe as pins and needles in his legs. How did professional life drawing models do this for so long? Makoto had gained a new-found respect for them over the last hour.

It wasn't even as if they were doing art homework or anything. Just that Haru had wanted to practise, so Makoto had offered to help. Then Nagisa had turned up and joined in as well. He'd borrowed a sketchpad from Haru and then started demanding for Makoto to try out poses that became increasingly bizarre as time went on. When it had been just Haru, he'd asked Makoto to stay in simple sitting or lying positions that were easy to maintain for longer periods of time, but those had proven too boring for Nagisa.

Makoto looked to Haru, who'd been quietly drawing the whole time and he... kind of wished that Haru would step in to object, but he didn't. Instead he focused so intently on drawing. His eyes darted between Makoto and the sketchpad, while his pencil seemed to race across the page so quickly that if Makoto watched it for too long, then he'd probably get dizzy. Which wouldn't help his current situation at all.

Nagisa flipped over a page in his sketchpad, which signified that he was done with that pose.

“Okay, time to do another one!” he announced, without checking that Haru was done as well. Haru's pencil scribbled a few more lines and then came to a halt, so he must have been able to finish quickly.

“What's next then?” Makoto asked, lowering his arms with relief.

“Hmm... so much choice,” Nagisa mused, “How about you're like a... firefighter? Yeah! You're putting out a fire and saving lives!”

“You mean like this?” checked Makoto.

He turned to the side and did his best impression of aiming a hose at a burning building, without having either of those things for reference.

“Good, but bend your legs a little more. Gotta make it dynamic!” Nagisa insisted.

“Nagisa, I'm pretty sure that actual firefighters aren't bothered about looking dynamic when they're putting out fires,” Makoto protested.

“The hose is heavy! They need to put their backs into carrying it,” argued Nagisa.

“Fiiine...”

With that, Makoto stretched his legs out a little further, despite their protests. Then he stared ahead, pretending that he was looking at a fire instead of just a makeshift washing line that Haru had hung up in his garden.

“This is the last one,” Haru said. It was the first time he'd spoken in a while.

“Aww, but Haru-chan... I had loads more ideas,” Nagisa whined.

“We can save them for another time. I'm getting too tired to draw right now,” replied Haru.

“Okay then. We've totally gotta make this a regular thing. Mako-chan is such a good model,” Nagisa said.

“Maybe next time you can try doing the poses and I'll do the drawing,” Makoto suggested, “Or we could get Rei around to do some poses instead.”

“Oooh, that's a great idea! I'll call him when we're done,” Nagisa agreed.

With that, Nagisa and Haru got started on their final poses. Makoto suspected that Haru wasn't actually tired of drawing, but he appreciated his giving him an out all the same. The firefighter pose ended up being Makoto's shakiest one yet, but he didn't get berated for it, as it must have been obvious how tired he was.

He couldn't see the two of them from where he was standing right now, but eventually he heard Nagisa's voice, signifying that the session was over.

“Aaand done! Thanks for your patience, Mako-chan,” Nagisa chimed.

“You're welcome...” Makoto sighed.

With that, he basically flopped down to the ground, not caring that he was now lying face down in Haru's garden. His limbs cried with relief to be resting and the grass actually felt nice against his face. Behind him, he could hear Haru and Nagisa talking to each other, though as usual, it was mostly Nagisa who did the talking.

“That's amazing, Haru-chan! How did you learn to draw so well? Mine just look like goofy scribbles, but yours look just like Mako-chan. I want a rematch! Next time I'll totally beat you, okay?” Nagisa proclaimed.

“It's not a competition. We both did very well,” Haru replied.

“No one likes a graceful winner,” Nagisa protested, even though Makoto had never heard of anyone not liking a graceful winner before, “Hey, Mako-chan! Wanna see our drawings of you?”

“Only if you bring them over here. I'm not moving from this spot,” Makoto assured him.

If he expected that Nagisa would argue with him, he was wrong. Instead he heard Nagisa bound over to him and then a sketchpad was shoved under his face, with Nagisa flipping through each of the pages to show off his sketches of Makoto. The linework was thick and bold on every page, with each image showing off a more stylised look of Makoto. Nagisa had even added in his own props, like the hose and fire on the last one or a sword and eyepatch on one of the earlier ones, where he'd had Makoto pretend to be a pirate.

“They look great!” Makoto praised.

“You sure you aren't just saying that? Haru-chan's look way better,” Nagisa replied.

“He's seen my drawings a lot before. They're boring,” said Haru, as he came over to join them.

“But they're so good! Mako-chan, look!” Nagisa insisted.

With that, he took the other sketchpad from Haru and started to flick through them. Certainly Makoto had seen Haru's art plenty of times before, but that didn't mean he ever got tired of looking through it. He found it impressive how Haru could capture him exactly as he was, though he did sometimes wonder if Haru was trying to flatter him with the muscles that he gave him.

“You've both done a good job. But next time I demand regular breaks,” Makoto said.

“All right, but it's coming out of your pay check,” joked Nagisa, “Well, if we're done here today then I'd better head off. I promised Gou that I'd start my new work-out today. Though I'm sure she'll understand if I'm a little late because of art.”

“Just so long as you don't drop out of the swim club to join the art club,” Makoto replied, “I know they still want to take Haru from us while we're not looking.”

“It's such a shame that Haru-chan and me are talented in so many different fields. But our hearts lie with swimming. Right, Haru-chan?” asked Nagisa.

“Right,” Haru replied, from where he'd moved to clear away the pencils, sharpeners and erasers that had been scattered about.

“Anyway, I'll see you two later,” Nagisa concluded.

And with that, he left in just as much of a whirlwind as he'd came, abandoning the sketchpad he'd been using for Haru to put away. There was never a dull moment when Nagisa was around, that was for sure.

“Are you all right?” Haru checked, once the front door closed behind Nagisa.

“Yeah, just a little tired,” said Makoto. It wasn't unusual for him to sleep over at Haru's place, but this might be the first time he was going to sleep in his garden.

“You could have told him some of those poses were a bit much,” Haru pointed out.

“You could have done as well,” Makoto replied.

“Yes, but I liked being able to practise less common poses. They're good for reference,” said Haru.

“So cruel...” Makoto laughed.

“Do you want me to bring your dinner out to you?” Haru asked, clearly not fazed.

“Nah, I'll be up before then. Just give me a moment,” assured Makoto.

He heard Haru walk away, back into the house. They'd known each other so long that Haru didn't mind leaving Makoto while he went to do something else. It was far from rude when the something else he was doing was making them food.

After a while, the tempting smell of curry drifted out to where Makoto was lying. Usually Haru would make mackerel almost exclusively, but he must have felt that Makoto deserved his favourite after all his hard work. Makoto wasn't going to object to that.

He listened to the sounds from the kitchen, just hearing the muffled noise of plates being shifted around. So he wasn't surprised when Haru came to the door to call over to him.

“It's ready,” Haru said.

“I'm not done lying here,” Makoto replied.

Haru tutted loudly and disappeared back into the house. Then after a few minutes, Makoto heard him walk back out and across the garden. A plate was put on the ground in front of him. It was enough to break Makoto out of his tired spell and get him to scramble up into a sitting position, grabbing the cutlery from the side of the plate so he could tuck in.

“Thanks Haru, this is great,” he chimed.

Haru just nodded and sat down next to him, picking at his own dish with a bit less enthusiasm.

They stayed together for a while, with Makoto being the first one to finish and set his plate to a side. He lent back and looked up at the sky, which was now clouding over into a dull evening. With dinner inside of him, he felt a lot better about everything.

“I could be a life drawing model,” he said.

“You could,” Haru agreed, “But then I'd have to pay you.”

“Just pay me in your cooking and I'll be fine,” Makoto replied.

“Deal. But then how's Nagisa going to pay?” asked Haru.

“You can pay on his behalf. I'm not that expensive,” said Makoto, “But if you bring a whole class out here then I am going to start charging more.”

“Just Nagisa and maybe Rei and Gou. We can take turns with the poses, so it's not so difficult on you,” Haru said.

“Does that mean I'll get to see Haru pose?” Makoto teased.

Haru frowned and looked away; “...Maybe.”

“Come on, I know you like posing really,” Makoto went on. He nudged Haru in the side with his elbow; “Do it for me.”

“Fine. I'll do it for Makoto.”

He sounded vaguely annoyed, but Makoto knew that it was an act. Deep down, Haru probably liked the idea of seeing all of his friends draw him. He appreciated art so much, even if he wasn't interested in doing it for a living. That was Haru all over – he liked doing what he liked just for the sake of it, not for any more serious reasons. And for now, that was fine. Even if later... it maybe wouldn't be. But Makoto wasn't going to ruin a good day by dwelling on that.

Their discussion had come to an end at the moment, so the two of them sat together in companionable silence. Later, Makoto would call home to let them know he was staying at Haru's, although there probably wasn't any need. They would have guessed by now. Makoto and Haru were pretty predictable when you'd known them as long as Makoto's family had done.

He rested his head on Haru's shoulder, starting to feel sleepy now that he'd eaten. Haru didn't object. He never did.

“We should just stay here,” Makoto hummed.

“It might rain,” said Haru.

“Spoilsport...” chuckled Makoto.

“I can't tell it not to rain,” Haru pointed out. So there was something that the great Haruka couldn't do.

“Let it rain then. I'll just stay here and not care,” Makoto pressed.

“You're usually the one telling me off for almost getting a cold,” said Haru, “But okay. We'll stay out here until it rains and then I'm taking you inside.”

“Will you drag me through?” Makoto asked.

“No. You can walk,” tutted Haru.

“Then you're not exactly taking me inside, are you?” countered Makoto.

“Don't argue,” Haru said.

With that, he picked up Makoto's arm and put it over his shoulder. The last thing Makoto was going to do was argue with Haru on that. He pulled him close, as Haru curled up to his side, both of them completely content. And they'd stay there together until it rained.


End file.
